Using Claude? Claude 2.0, the rebuilt Claude desktop app, changed 12 things. Some of them quietly burn your usage limit.
I run about forty Claude sessions every day, so I went through the new app on my own Mac.
This is what actually matters.
I also made a video of the whole walkthrough.
1. Cowork is gone: just Chat and Code
There are only two tabs now, Chat and Code. Every new feature ships in Code.
Don't let the word "code" scare you. You still type in plain English.
Switch to that tab, because everything below lives there.
Here is why it matters. When I open Claude now, I don't pick a mode first. I pick a folder.
Claude works inside it, with my files, my rules and my tools.
2. The session rail, and what eats your limit
The session rail is the panel on the right.
The top card shows where this chat runs: your computer or the cloud.
Below that is the context card. It shows what is eating your limit before you even type.
Memory files, skills, connectors. They all load into every new chat.
On mine, tools, memory and skills together took more room than all my actual messages.
That is the first thing to clean up.
Every one of those loads on your very first message.
So a giant memory file costs you on every single chat, before you have said a word.
Once a week, open this card and ask Claude to trim whatever it doesn't need.
Trim my memory files to what you actually use
It takes two minutes, and your limit lasts longer.
3. Remote control
Flip this switch, and the same chat keeps going on your phone.
Start at your desk, check it on the train.
There is also a setting that connects every new session to remote control automatically, so you never have to remember the switch.
And turn on "Keep computer awake while Claude works." Otherwise your Mac sleeps, and the job stops halfway.
4. Sections
Right-click any chat and move it to a new section. You get folders in the sidebar, one per project or client.
I have a section for each product and each channel.
No more scrolling through fifty chats to find one.
5. Nested sessions
A chat can now start its own chats.
I asked one to write an App Store description, a launch post and keywords, all at once.
It started three sessions. When each one finished, it reported back.
And unlike sub-agents, I can click into any of them and keep talking.
That is the difference.
A sub-agent is a one-way order: you send a job and get a result.
A nested session is a real chat you can steer.
So if the launch post comes back too long, you don't start over.
Open that one session and say "shorter." Done.
6. The master session
One chat can now see your other sessions. Pin one to the top and make it your master.
Then ask it what is waiting on you.
It read my five latest sessions and told me nothing needed a decision. That is a perfect morning check.
By default it looks at your twenty most recent sessions.
You can ask it to look further back, or to sort your chats into sections for you.
7. Three settings that quietly burn your limit
Open Settings, then Claude Code.
Dynamic workflows runs agents in parallel. The app itself warns that workflows can use a lot of your usage limit quickly.
Prompt suggestions and Classify session states both say they add to your usage too.
Turn off what you don't use. Leave "Keep computer awake" on.
8. Side chats with /btw
Type /btw while Claude is working.
A side chat opens, reads the main chat, and answers without stopping it.
/btw used to vanish. Now side chats stay, and you can open as many as you want.
Why not just ask in the main chat?
Because you interrupt the work, and every question there costs more, since the whole long chat gets read again.
9. Split view
Hold Option and click a chat. It opens next to the one you are in.
I fit eight on one screen.
Start with two. Eight is a lot for your own brain.
My setup is simple. The master session on the left, the jobs it started on the right, and a side chat when I need one.
10. Docs, Slides and designs
Claude now makes these as shared pages you can edit together and send as a link.
Docs is a shared document you write together with Claude. Slides builds a deck you can present right there.
Docs and Slides got all the headlines. But they are the least of what changed.
If your brand has a design system, there is now a place for it right in Settings, so everything Claude makes looks like you.
11. New slash commands
/doctor checks your setup and offers fixes.
/rewind takes you back to an earlier point, like undo.
Pressing Escape twice rewinds without typing anything.
12. Mods
Describe a change, and Claude rewrites the app itself.
I asked for my weekly limit above the chat box.
It wrote it, asked once, and turned it on.
Now I see how much is left before I start anything big.
You don't need to code this. I typed one sentence.
The mod is just a few files Claude writes, and you can turn it off anytime.
A simple daily routine
Here is how it all fits together.
- In the morning, ask the master session what is waiting on you. You get a short list.
- Start the big jobs as nested sessions, one per task.
- Put the master on the left in split view so you can watch them.
- When you are curious about a job, don't interrupt it. Open a side chat.
- Let the green meter tell you when to slow down.
That is how one person can keep forty sessions moving without losing track.
Three mistakes to avoid
- Letting your memory file grow huge. Every chat pays for it.
- Opening eight panes on day one. You won't follow any of them. Two panes first.
- Asking questions in the main chat while it is working. It slows everything down. That is what side chats are for.
Do these three today
- Check your context card
- Set up a master session
- Build a mod for your limit
Everyone talked about Docs. The real upgrade is that one chat can now run all the others.
Top comments (0)